Method and device for transferring and retaining printed matter



P 1968 M. c. BORELL ETAL 3,375,182

METHOD AND DEVICE FOR TRANSFERRING I AND RETAINING PRINTED MATTER Filed June 25, 1965 LUBRICANT ATTORNEY United States Patent Qfifice 3,376,182 Patented Apr. 2, 1968 METHOD AND DEVICE FOR TRANSFERRING AND RETAINING PRINTED MATTER Marvin C. Borell, 5808 Portland Ave, Minneapolis, Minn. 55417, and Leonard J. Hanson, Jn, 11820 Live Oak Drive, Minnetonka, Minn. 55343 Filed June 25, 1965', Ser. No. 467,049 9 Claims. (Cl. 156235) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A method of transferring and retaining printed matter from a printed surface in which a tape with a transparent portion has a pressure sensitive adhesive coating on one face which has an added solvent or lubricant added thereto, the tape being applied to the printed surface to transfer the printed material to the adhesive coating, and being removed, without injury to the printed surface because of the solvent, and then being applied to a backing member to provide a permanent reference record.

It is often desirable to make some record of reference information contained in a book or publication where the destruction of the book or publication is undesirable. A common instance is that of a telephone directory where it is often desirable to carry with one a note of a name, address and telephone number. This can, of course, be done by copying the name, address and telephone number down on a separate slip of paper. This, however, takes a certain amount of time and there is always the possibility of error. As a result, telephone directories are often mutilated by having pages containing the desired reference information removed therefrom. Another instance of where the transfer and retention of the printed material is desirable is in a direct mail campaign where there is reference to the local classified telephone directory listing of a local distributor and it is desirable to make some permanent record of this local distributor without destroying the telephone directory.

We have provided a method of transferring printed information from a printed surface and retaining the printed information which can be accomplished readily without any injury to the printed surface. It has been proposed to employ an ordinary transparent or semi-transparent tape having a pressure sensitive adhesive coating secured to one face thereof and applying such a tape to printed matter to be transferred, with a separate border member which is inserted between the tape and the printed surface so as to facilitate removal of the tape from the printed surface. With this prior arrangement, the adhesive surface is effective not only to remove the printed matter but also a portion of the paper on which the printed matter appears. This, of course, results in mutilation of the printed surface. In the case of the telephone directory, this would be highly undesirable since the printed matter would no longer be available for the next user. Furthermore, the provision of a separate border member is undesirable since this border member can readily be lost or not be available when it is desired to transfer the printed material.

It is an object of our invention to provide a method of transferring and retaining printed matter in which the printed matter is still left in readable form on the printed surface from which the information is transferred.

We accomplish this object by providing a tape having a pressure-sensitive surface. This pressure-sensitive surface must have sufiicient adhesion to the material used to form the printed indicia, such as ink, to cause the removal of a portion thereof when the tape is removed. At the same time, the adhesion of the tape to the surrounding material carrying the printed indicia must be sufiiciently low that the tape can be readily removed without injury to the surface of this material. Certain types of pressure-sensitive coatings used for masking tapes are desirable for this purpose. It is also possible with other pressure-sensitive adhesive coatings to incorporate therein suthcient lubricant and/or solvent to faciliate the removal of the tape from the printed surface without damage thereto. Such lubricants and/or solvents have the further advantage that they tend to aid in the transfer of the ink or other printing material from the printed matter to the adhesive surface. The amount of adhesiveness must also be so controlled that while the tape can be readily removed from a printed surface, it is still possible for the tape to adhere to a backing medium.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a method in which it is unnecessary to use a border member separate from the tape. This is accomplished by providing a tape with either a nonadhesive member secured thereto along at least one edge of the tape or with one or more nonadhesive edge portions to permit the edge of the tape to be grasped and detached from the printed surface. The provision of a separate nonadhesive member secured to the tape has the further advantage that it imparts rigidity to the tape to permit the tape to be readily handled while it is being applied initially to the printed material and then removed and secured to a backing member.

It is a further object of our invention in which the backing medium is always associated with the tape and acts normally to protect the pressure adhesive surface thereof.

It is a further object of our invention to provide a transfer tape of the type employed in our method which may be in a relatively long strip so that the desired length can be removed from the overall strip.

Other objects of our invention will be apparent from a consideration of the accompanying specification, claims and drawing of which:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of one form of our novel tape employed in our method of transfer;

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the tape of FIGURE 1 taken along the line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of another form of our tape mounted upon a dispenser;

FIGURE 4 is a cross sectional view through one form of the tape of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a cross sectional view through another form of the tape of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 6 is a view of a reference book such as a telephone directory having our improved tape applied to a portion thereof for transferring printed material from the telephone directory to the tape;

FIGURE 7 is a view showing a portion of FIGURE 6 but with the tape partially removed to show the method of withdrawing the tape from the printed material;

FIGURE 8 is a view showing the appearance of the tape after it has been removed from the printed material and with the printed material visible through the transparent or translucent material of the tape;

FIGURE 9 shows a reference medium such as a page of an address book in which several of the tapes with printed information thereon have been applied to the reference page;

FIGURE 10 is a typewriter having one of our tapes applied to the front thereof, the tape having reference information thereon to refer to a source of service for the typewriter; and

Referring specifically to FIGURE 1, there is shown a form of transfer member 9 on which there is a border member completely surrounding the portion of the tape in which the printed mattter is transferred. The tape itself is designated by the reference numeral 10 and extends over the full area of the transfer unit. This tape has on its underside a pressure-sensitive adhesive coating 13 to which has been added, either during formulation of the coating or subsequently, any of certain lubricants and/or softening agents. The pressure-sensitive adhesive coating may be of any of various types and one particular type which may be employed is an acrylate ester copolymer of the type disclosed in the Ulric-h Patent .Re. 24,906. Such an adhesive will adhere very firmly to a surface such as paper. It is, however, very difficult to remove such a tape from a soft surface such as paper without destruction of the paper. We have accordingly found it desirable to modify this coating by the addition of a suitable ink solvent such as a lubricating material which may be incorporated in the pressure-sensitive coating or lightly rubbed over the surface of the adhesive coating. One lubricant which has been successfully employed is ordinary petroleum jelly. The lubricant should be very lightly applied so as to decrease the tendency of the adhesive coating to adhere to the surface to which it is applied while at the same time not completely removing the adhesive character of the coating. The addition of the lubricating material has a further effect, as will be discussed in more detail later, of increasing the absorption of the ink by the adhesive coating because of its tendency to slightly soften the ink of the printed matter. Another lubricant which is particularly effective is a silicone lubricant of the type commercially sold as Dow-Corning N0. DClOOO.

Secured to the underside of the tape 10 is a frame 11, which may be made of paper, plastic, paint or similar nonadhesive material. This frame, as will be readily apparent from FIGURE 1, has its outer edge conforming in configuration with that of the tape and is provided with a rectangular opening 12 visible through the tape in FIGURE 1. The thicknesses of the tape 10 and the frame member 11 have been shown somewhat exaggerated in FIGURES 1 and 2 for purposes of illustration. In actual practice, the material of the frame 11 is sufliciently thin that the adhesive coating of the tape 10 lies in substantially the same plane as the bottom surface of the frame 11.

In FIGURES 3, 4 and 5, we have shown a further modification of our tape. In this case, the tape is of a relatively long length and is wound on a roll much in the manner in which pressure-sensitive adhesive tape is normally handled. The tape is designated in this figure by the reference numeral 14. As best shown in section in FIGURE 4, the tape comprises a tape portion 15 and two strips 16 and 17 of plastic, paper, paint or similar nonadhesive material which are disposed beneath the tape 15 and run continuously adjacent the edges thereof. The tape 15, as is the case with tape 10, is provided on its underside with a pressure-sensitive adhesive coating which has been modified by the application thereto of a suitable lubricant such as petroleum jelly or a suitable silicone lubricant. The tape 14 is shown in FIGURE 3 as being mounted upon a conventional tape dispenser 18 having a cutting edge 19 to permit cutting off any desired length of the tape 14.

If desired, the tape 14, instead of having separate strips 16 and 17 may have edge strips 20 and 21 which are abutted to and secured to the main body of the tape 15. In this case, only the central portion 15 of the tape has the pressure-sensitive adhesive coating 22. It is also possible to have a continuous tape the full width thereof with adhesive coating 22 applied only to the central portion thereof. The advantage of using separate strips 16 and 17 or 20 and 21 is that these strips can be relatively rigid as compared with the tape itself so as to permit the tape to be more readily handled when 4- it is being applied to the printed material and when it is being removed and transferred to the reference medium.

In FIGURES 6 and 7, we have shown the application of our tape to a reference book, such as a telephone directory. It will be noted that the tape is applied over a selected portion of the page. Due to the nonadhesive frame member 11, it is possible to readily manipulate the tape so that it is applied to the proper place on the page. The portion of the tape within the frame 12 is then rubbed so as to make sure that it adheres to the printed matter. The edge of the tape is now grasped by removing a portion of the frame member 11. Since this frame member 11 has no adhesive material thereon, it can be readily grasped and used to remove the entire tape member. The tape member is shown in the process of being removed in FIGURE 7. When it is removed, the appearance is that shown in FIGURE 8 in which the printed matter,v

is visible through the transparent tape in the frame opening 12. Regardless of whether the tape is completely transparent or slightly translucent, the printing is quite visible particularly when the tape is in turn transferred to a backing member. Furthermore, upon removal of the tape 9, the printed material on the reference book will still be readily readable by the next user. In fact, the. same information can be transferred to our tape several 1 times without rendering the original printed material illegible.

In FIGURE 9, we have shown a backing member in the form of a sheet which may be the sheet of an address book or may simply be a card to be carried in the pocket.

This sheet or card has been designated by the reference numeral 25. It will be noted that there are three such tapes 9 which have been applied to the sheet 25. Due to the limited amount of lubricant applied to the pressure sensitive coating 13, the tapes 9 will adhere firmly to the sheet 25 despite the lubricant. If desired, guide lines 26 may be provided to facilitate placing of the tapes 9. It will be noted that there remain spaces for four more of these tapes.

Another use to which our improved transfer tape may be employed is that of making readily available the name of a service agency. In FIGURE 10, we have shown a typewriter 30 having one of the tapes 9 applied thereto. In this case, the tape 9 has been applied over a portion of a telephone directory containing the name of the service organization. The tape is then removed and then applied to any convenient portion of the typewriter. It is obvious that service information for other pieces of apparatus can similarly be located in a convenient form by the use of our improved tape.

In one form of our invention, the backing member may be permanently associated with the tape. This form is shown in FIGURE 11. The tape, in this modification, is

designated by the reference numeral 32 and the backing member by the reference numeral 33. The backing member is provided with three slits 34, 35 and 36 which are viewed in FIGURE. 11 through the transparent tape 32. The rectangular portion bounded onthree sides, by slits 34, 35 and 36 forms a flap which may be bent downwardly away from the pressure-sensitive adhesive surface on the underside of tape 32 and foldedbackwardly so that the exposed pressure-sensitive adhesive surface bounded by lines 34, 35 and 36 may be applied to printed material. By rubbing the tape, the printed material is transferred to the adhesive under surface of tape 32. Afterwards, the flap of the backing member 33 can be folded back to cover the adhesive portion of tape 32. The complete unit may be then carried around in the pocket and since the adhesive portions are covered by the backing member 33, the member will be easy to handle and will not adhere to the hand or pocket in which the device is carried. The device is shown in FIGURE 11 with the end portion of the backing member bounded by-slits 34, 35 and 36 bent downwardly preparatory to peeling it away from the tape and folding it back. In its normal position, this end portion will be in engagement with the pressure-sensitive adhesive surface of tape 32.

Due to the fact that our tape has sufiicient lubricant requires no external parts, such as a mask, it is possible to include a tape of this type with an advertising circular suggesting that the tape be employed to transfer the name of the local distributor or service person to a convenient point. These tapes are also very useful in accurate copying of the names of prospects for followup by telephone solicitation. While we have shown the tape of a size just sufficient to copy a few lines from a telephone directory, it is to be understood that the tape can be larger to copy greater areas of printed matter.

Due to the fact that our tape has sufiicient lubricant added to the adhesive surface to facilitate the removal of the tape without any damage to the surface, the transfer of information in this manner does not destroy or injure the reference medium. In fact, only a small portion of the printing material is transferred to the tape so that the printed material is still readily readable in the reference book. In fact, the same information can be taken from the reference book two or three times and still leave the printed material legible in the reference book.

In the foregoing specification and the appended claims, the expression printed surface, wherever used, is intended to be broad enough to cover any material to which indicia are applied by means of a marking medium applied to the surface of the material. For example, it has been found that our tape and method work effectively in connection with electrostatically produced copies of documents.

Conclusion It will be seen that we have provided an improved method of transferring printed matter from a printed surface to a reference medium without any injury to the printed surface and without the use of any auxiliary tools or parts. Our method involves the employment of a novel tape which can be in the form of individual portions of selected sizes or can be in the form of a continuous tape, portions of which are removed as needed.

While we have shown certain specific embodiments of our invention, it is to be understood that this is for purposes of illustration only and that the scope of our invention is limited solely by the appended claims.

We claim as our invention:

1. A method of transferring and retaining printed information from a printed surface comprising:

providing a tape a substantial portion of which istransparent and having a surface with a pressure-sensitive adhesive coating on one face thereof along at least the transparent portion thereof and a relatively nonadhesive portion of substantial extent adjacent to and on the same face of the tape as said adhesive portion,

applying said tape to a selected part of the printed matter on said printed surface with the pressure-sensitive adhesive coating in contact with said printed surface and with the transparent portion overlying said selected part of the printed matter,

rubbing the tape adjacent said printed surface to transfer a surface portion of said selected part of the printed matter to the adhesive coating,

grasping said relatively nonadhesive portion and removing said tape in such a manner as to remove only the surface portion of the printed matter from said printed surface while leaving the surrounding surface material of the printed surface intact,

and then placing said tape on a surface of a backing member with the adhesive coating in contact with said surface so that said tape is retained on said surface of the backing member and the transferred printed matter is visible through said tape.

2. A method of transferring and retaining printed information from a printed surface comprising:

providing a tape a substantial portion of which is transparent and having a surface with a pressure-sensitive adhesive coating on one face thereof along at least the transparent portion thereof and a relatively nonadhesive portion of substantial extent adjacent to and on the same face of the tape as said adhesive portion,

said pressure-sensitive coating having sufiicient solvent added thereto to facilitate transfer of printed matter thereto and release of the tape from a printed surface to which the tape is applied, applying said tape to a selected part of the printed matter on said printed surface with the pressure-sensitive adhesive coating in contact with said printed surface and with the transparent portion overlying said selected part of the printed matter, rubbing the tape adjacent said printed surface to transfer a surface portion of said selected part of the printed matter to the adhesive coating, grasping said relatively nonadhesive portion and removing said tape in such a manner as to remove only the surface portion of the printed matter from said printed surface while leaving the surrounding surface material of the printed surface intact, and then placing said tape on a surface of a backing member with the adhesive coating in contact with said surface so that said tape is retained on said surface of the backing member and the transferred printed matter is visible through said tape. 3. A method of transferring and retaining printed information from a printed surface comprising:

providing a tape a substantial portion of which is transparent and having a surface with a pressure-sensitive adhesive coating on one face thereof along at least the transparent portion thereof and a relatively non-adhesive edge portion adjacent to and on the same face of the tape as said adhesive portion,

said edge portion being relatively rigid as compared with the rest of the tape, applying said tape to a selected part of the printed matter on said printed surface with the pressure-sensitive adhesive coating in contact with said printed surface and with the transparent portion overlying said selected part of the printed matter, rubbing the tape adjacent said printed surface to transfer a surface portion of said selected part of the printed matter to the adhesive coating, grasping said relatively nonadhesive edge portion and removing said tape in such a manner as to remove only the surface portion of the printed matter from said printed surface while leaving the surrounding surface material of the printed surface intact, and then placing said tape on a surface of a backing member with the adhesive coating in contact with said surface so that said tape is retained on said surface of the backing member and the printed matter is visible through said tape. 4. A method of transferring and retaining printed information from a printed surface comprising:

providing a continuous tape at least the central portion of which is transparent and having a surface with a pressure-sensitive adhesive coating on one face thereof along the transparent central portion thereof and a relatively nonadhesive edge portion extending the full length of the tape adjacent to and on the same face as said adhesive central portion, removing a portion of said tape of the desired length, applying said portion of said tape to a selected part of the printed matter on said printed surface with the pressure sensitive adhesive coating in contact with said printed surface and with the transparent central portion overlying said selected part of the printed matter, rubbing the tape adjacent said printed surface to transfer a surface portion of said selected part of the printed matter to the adhesive coating,

grasping said relatively nonadhesive edge portion and removing said tape portion in such a manner as to remove only the surface portion of the printed matter from said printed surface While leaving the printed surface intact,

and then placing said tape portion on a surface of a backing member with the adhesive coating in contact with said surface so that said tape is retained on said surface of the backing member and the printed matter is visible through said tape.

5. A tape for transferring and retaining printed information from a printed surface,

said tape being transparent over at least a substantial central portion thereof and having a pressure-sensitive adhesive coating applied to at least the transparent central portion of one face thereof,

said tape having a relatively nonadhesive edge portion adjacent to and on the same face as said adhesive central portion,

and said pressure sensitive adhesive coating having a lubricant added thereto, said lubricant acting as a solvent for the printing material and being added thereto in suflicient quantity to facilitate transfer of a surface portion of the printed matter on said printed surface to said adhesive surface while preventing sufiicient adherence of the tape to the printed surface to make it impossible to readily remove the tape without injury to the printed surface,

said solvent being added in a sufficiently small amount to said printed surface that the tape will still adhere to the surface of a backing member when applied thereto after removal from the printed surface.

6. A tape for transferring and retaining printed information from a printed surface to a surface of a backing member,

said tape being transparent over at least a substantial central portion thereof and having a pressure-sensitive adhesive coating applied to at least the transparent central portion of one face thereof,

said tape having a relatively nonadhesive edge portion adjacent to and on the same face as said adhesive central portion,

said nonadhesive edge portion being relatively rigid as compared with the rest of the tape, and said pressure sensitive adhesive coating having sufficient solvent for the printing material added thereto to facilitate transfer of a surface portion of the printed matter on said printed surface to said adhesive surface while preventing sufficient adherence of the tape to the printed surface to make it impossible to readily remove the tape without injury to the printed surface,

said solvent being applied in a sufficiently small amount to said printed surface that the tape will still adhere to the surface of a backing member when applied thereto after removal from the printed surface.

7. A tape for transferring and retaining printed information from a printed surface to a surface of a backing member,

said tape being transparent over at least a substantial central portion thereof and having a pressure-sensitive adhesive coating applied to at least the transparent central portion of one face thereof,

said tape having a nonadhesive border member secured to said tape adjacent the edges thereof on the same face as said adhesive portion and forming a nonadhesive border member framing said central adhesive portion,

and said pressure-sensitive adhesive coating having sufficient solvent for the printing material added thereto to facilitate transfer of a surface portion of the printed matter of said printed surface to said adhesive surface while preventing sufiicient adherence of the tape to the printed surface to make it impossible to readily remove the tape without injury to the printed surface,

said solvent being applied in a sufficiently small amount to said printed surface that the tape will still adhere to the surface of a backing member when applied thereto after removal from the printed surface.

8. An elongated tape for transferring and retaining printed information from a printed surface to a surface of a backing member.

said tape being transparent over at least a substantial central portion thereof and having a pressure-sensitive adhesive coating applied to at least the transparent central portion of one face thereof for the full length of the tape,

said tape having a relatively nonadhesive edge portion running the full length of to and on the same face as said adhesive tape adjacent said central portion, and said pressure sensitive adhesive coating having sufficient solvent for the printing material added thereto to facilitate transfer of a surface portion of the printed matter of said printed surface to said adhesive surface While preventing sufficient adherence of a selected portion of the tape to the printed surface to make it impossible to readily remove the portion of the tape without injury to the printed surface,

said solvent being applied in a sufliciently small amount to said printed surface that the portion of the tape will still adhere to the surface of a backing member when applied thereto after removal from the printed surface.

9. A tape for transferring and retaining printed information from a printed surface to a surface of a backing member.

said tape being transparent over at least a substantial portion thereof and having a pressure-sensitive adhesive coating applied to at least the transparent portion of one face thereof,

said tape having a backing member secured to said ad-.

hesive coating,

said backing member having a portion thereof severed so as to be temporarily removable from said coating to expose a portion of said coating, and said pressure-sensitive adhesive coating having sufficient solvent for the printing material added thereto to facilitate transfer of a surface portion of the References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,968,095 7/1934 Pochel 156-236 X 2,515,423 7/1950 Prasnik 117-44 2,819,196 1/1958 Munro 156-234 3,146,144 8/1964 Lenielson 156--234 FOREIGN PATENTS 748,155 4/ 1956 Great Britain.

EARL M. BERGERT, Primary Examiner.

M. L. KATZ, Assistant Examiner. 

